Improvement in gondola-cars



C. A. THOMPSON.

GONDOLA CAR.

No. 184,928. Patented Nov. 28,1876.

N-PET-ERS, PNOTO-LITBOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. DV 0.

UErrEn STATES PATENT FFIGE.

CHARLESIA. THOMPSON, OF FLUSHING, ASSIGNOR' T HIMsELE AND GEORGE W. N. CUSTIS, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN GONDOLA-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 184,928, dated November 28, 1876 application filed April 18, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. THOMP- SON, ofFlushing, Queens county, New York, have invented a new and Improved Gondola Car, of which the following is a specification:

Figure 1 is a top view of a car, to which my improvement has been applied. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same, showing one sideboard turned up and another turned down; and Fig. 3 is a detail section of the same, taken through the line a; a, Fig. 1. i

The invention relates to an improvement in that class of deck or platform cars which are provided with side stakes, and denominated gondola cars.

The improvement relates, first, to verticallysliding stakes, and, second, to hinged sideboards folding outward, as hereinafter described.

Inthe accompanying drawing, A represents the body of the car; B, the side and end boards, which are hinged at their lower edges to the car-body A, so that they can be turned up when a gondola-car is required, and turned down when a platform-car is required. G are stakes, which are placed in holes or sockets formed in or attached to the car-body A,-and have hooks 0 upon their outer sides to hook upon the upper edges of the boards B, when turned up to hold the said boards in place. When the boards B are turned down, the stakes O are allowed to drop down so as to be flush with the surface of the car-body A, the books 0 grasping the hinged edges of the boards B to keep them from flapping. At the ends of the car the stakes 0 have an upward extension, 0 above the hooks 0 formed upon them, to adapt them to serve as standards, as shown in Fig.3. The lower ends of the stakes C have flanges or heads formed upon them, or attached to them, to prevent them from being drawn out of their places and lost.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

'1. The combination of the stakes C with the car A, the said stakes being adapted to slide in slots or guides, as shown and described, so that they may be raised or lowered vertically, as required, to form eithera gondola or a deck-car, as set forth.

2! The combination, with a platform-car, of vertically-sliding stakes O, and side boards for supporting them when elevated, as shown and described.

3. The combination of the vertically-sliding stakes 0, having hooked-shaped end, with the boards B hinged to the platform of the car, as shown and described, whereby the hooks rest upon the hinge when the boards are pendent, for the purpose set forth.

oHAeLEs A. THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

JAMES T. GRAHAM, T. B. MosHER. 

